Ito's desire was there but her body shape, reaction time, and technical/tactical execution, which peaked between late 2019 and early 2020, were a shell of her former self. Even if she knew what to do, she just couldn't get it done. Most top players with double-inverted style know how to play her. The QF against Odo made that abundantly clear. SYS's withdrawal, SHW taking out Pyon Song Gyong, and her WR got her a bronze medal here, which is way more than her current game could've gotten her. She should feel satisifed with it.
For WD, Ito
has extended the olive branch, so it depends on Hayata (whether she wants to be marooned again). Personally, I think Hayata should focus on WS like Hirano does. Whether her injury never truly healed or flared up again (lying or not), it's obvious her body
cannot take much more than that with the reckless way she plays. Matsushima/Miwa will be the XD pair for LA 2028. Unless Hayata learns to rein herself in further, playing WD again with Ito will just be useless work that leads nowhere. Leave the precious spot to Harimoto/Kihara and/or Odo/Yokoi for the time being.
